On March 15, 2022, President Biden signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (the “Act”). The Act provides full-year funding, to September 30, 2022, for projects and activities of the federal government. Employee benefit plan sponsors will likely be interested in knowing that the Act increased the budgets of the IRS and the DOL’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (“EBSA”).
As a result of the Act, and given the recent increase in job postings that I have seen for IRS and EBSA agents, plan sponsors may wish to discuss the following with their plan’s legal counsel and other service providers: steps to take, in order to maximize plan sponsors’ and other plan fiduciaries’ protection from liability in the event of an IRS or EBSA plan audit.